Chilli Chicken

Chilli Chicken is one of the Indo Chinese dishes (also known as Chicken Chilli) that most of us have craving for, from time to time. There are plenty of variations of this preparation and each one differs in taste, aroma and appearance. Some chefs even include roasted and crushed cashew nuts to make it real rich and crunchy. Here I have used a simple method with modified recipe for the ease of home-cooking. And guess what? It is very much liked by all at home and has received lots of appreciation from the guests as well. Hopefully you all will like it too. Let’s start… Bon appétit!

Chilli Chicken – Indo Chinese Cuisine

Ingredients - group 1: (for marinating chicken)

1. Chicken bite-size cubes: 500- 600 grams (boneless preferred)

2. Ginger-garlic paste: 1 tablespoon

3. Cornflour: 2 tablespoon

4. Pepper powder: 1/2 tablespoon

5. Red chilli powder: ¾ tablespoon (adjust to your taste)

6. Salt: to taste

7. Egg: 1 No

Ingredient group 2: (for frying marinated chicken)

1. Oil: 1 cup

Ingredients - group 3: (for preparing masala base)

1. Oil: 2 - 3 tablespoon

2. Dry red chili: 2 Nos. cut into big pieces

3. Chopped ginger: 1/2 inch piece

4. Chopped garlic: 5 - 7 cloves

5. Onion, medium size: 2 Nos (diced)

6. Capsicum: 1 No (diced)

7. Green chilli (chopped): 2 Nos

8. Red chilli powder: 1/2 tablespoon

9. Pepper powder: 1/2 tablespoon

10. White vinegar: 1 - 2 tablespoon

11. Dark soya sauce: 2 - 3 tablespoon

12. Sugar: ½ tablespoon

13. Ajinomoto (MSG): ½ tablespoon

14. Salt: to taste

15. Coriander leaves: ½ cup (chopped)

16. Water: 1 cup (can adjust to your desired consistency)

17. Cornstarch: 3 tablespoon (mixed in ½ cup of water)

Ingredients - group 4 (for garnishing)

1. Coriander leaves: 2 tablespoon (roughly chopped)

2. Green chili: 2 - 3 Nos (Slit lengthwise)

Chilli Chicken: Close-up shot

Method: Step by step method for easy cooking

Step 1: Wash chicken and keep aside to drain water completely. Keep rest of the ingredients ready and handy.

Now take a heavy-bottom frying pan, add oil and heat it. (ref. ingredient group 2). Once the oil is hot, fry the marinated chicken until it is done. Remove the fried chicken pieces from oil and keep aside.

Step 4: Preparing masala base

Take a wok (chinese cooking pan) and add 3 tbsp oil and heat it on medium flame. Add red chilli cuts, chopped ginger and garlic and sauté them for 1 minute on high flame. Now add onion and capsicum dices, green chilli, red chilli powder, pepper powder, white vinegar, dark soya sauce, a pinch of sugar, ajinomoto, a pinch of salt and sauté until the onion dices turn to golden brown. Add chopped coriander leaves and 1 cup of water and bring it to boiling point. Now add cornstarch water spoon by spoon to get desired consistency on medium heat. (ref. ingredients group 3)

Step 5: Now add already fried chicken and turn stove to high flame. Keep mixing and tossing it for 2 – 3 minutes. The Chilli Chicken of Indo Chinese style is now ready to serve. It’s that easy!

Step 6: Serving

Transfer the preparation from wok to a serving bowl or plate, garnish with roughly chopped coriander leaves and slit green chilli (ref. ingredient group 4) and serve. Goes very well with paratha, chapati, naan, any type of roti and even with rice preparations.

Important and useful tips:

1. Use only fresh ingredients for alluring aroma and taste.

2. During step 3, don’t put all the chicken into oil at once, but fry them batch by batch.

3. You can adjust the quantity of water as per the texture and consistency you desire, at step 4.

4. Using a teaspoonful of store-bought chilli-garlic sauce will add to taste and color during step 4.

5. Since this dish has a Chinese touch, it requires the use of MSG (monosodium glutamate) which is commonly known as Ajinomoto. You may avoid it if you don’t like.

6. To prepare Dry Chilli Chicken add very little of water instead of a cup full at step 4, also reduce water ratio for preparing cornstarch mix.

7. Be careful while adding salt because vinegar and soya sauce contains it.

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